A study on reduction in fruit drop to improve yield and quality of kinnow (Citrus reticulata BLANCO) fruit

Kinnow (Citrus reticulata Blanco) fruit is one of the best commercial fruits cultivated in Sriganganagar district of Rajasthan. It is cultivated on a large area in Sriganganagar province due to its reasonably higher yield, better quality, taste and flavour. Fruit dropping is one of the main reason of low citrus fruit yield, which is thought to be mainly due to hormonal imbalance in the plants. This imbalance may occur as a result of nutrient deficiency in orchard soils, water shortage, disease and insect-pest attack on the kinnow trees. Therefore, experiments were conducted at farmers field to assess the influence of growth regulators [2, 4-D and Gybralic acid (GA₃)] and nutrients [zinc (Zn), Ferrous (Fe) and sulphur (S)] to improve yield and quality of Kinnow fruit and control the fruit drop. During the month of May, June and September foliar applications of treatment 15 ppm 2–4, D + 25 ppm GA₃ with micronutrients (0.3% zinc sulphate + ferrous sulphate) find significantly better to reduce the fruit drops and showed beneficial effects on improve the fruit quality, fruit diameter, juice %, TSS etc. as compared to recommendation treatment (T₂) and farmers practice (T₁). In general application of growth regulators resulted in improved fruit retention and fruit quality.